Death of A Loved One

Collective Grief

When the death of a person affects many members in a community, city, country, or across the world, people will experience collective grief.

These are some things that can help people through the experience of collective grief across a community.

Doug M – “Waiting before making major changes”

Doug discusses the importance of waiting to make decisions after you have developed your new life. Doug continues to grieve the death of his first wife.

Hope – Not wanting to burden my Mom and school

Hope talks about her fathers death, burdens and the importance of sharing emotions

Krista – “They are not trying to kill themselves”

Krista explains they are not trying to kill themselves. Krista continues to grieve the death of her son from opioid overdose.

Lyss – My Story

Lyss talks about being 16 and her Mom dying from cancer. The second part of her story is about miscarriages

Craig – Resilience in the Face of Adversity

Craig how he overcame a series of challenges, including the loss of his marriage, his job, and his home. He talks about how he found the strength to keep going and how he learned to be more resilient.

Shannon – Losing is a life skill

Shannon shares about losing her husband to suicide, her parents and her father-in-law. She felt broken and to be able to take care of her kids and her self seemed overwhelming. It took someone telling her that you can heal from trauma to give her hope for healing.

Shawn – “Dad”

Shawn describes finding out his father died by suicide and the shock and grief that followed. Shawn continues to grieve the death of his father by suicide

Making Space to Hear Them: supporting children in grief

Children tend to be naturally curious as they grow and learn to navigate the world. As adults, it’s our job to walk with them through that process of learning and to support their curiosity. It can be hard to do that with respect when we are situated in cultures that don’t acknowledge children as autonomous humans worthy of mutual respect. It can be tempting to encourage kids to ignore their feelings about death and grief or to shut down conversations about it when they ask questions. Sometimes, this is because we just don’t know what to say that is developmentally appropriate, especially with young children. Sometimes, it’s because we haven’t allowed ourselves to develop our own thoughts and feelings about death and grief and it feels uncomfortable for us to talk about.

Kate – Trust and listening

Kate – explains how having someone you trust is super important so that you can have a space space to go to

Jane – Preparing for another loss

Jane talks about her experience with another grandparent dying after losing two grandparents over the last few years.

Karyn and Aidan – Planning a celebration of life during COVID

Karyn and Aidan discuss creating a celebrating of life during the pandemic